HOVERED Synonyms: 28 Similar and Opposite Words

hovered

verb

past tense of hover

as in floated

to rest or move along the surface of a liquid or in the air claimed that the UFO hovered a moment, then spun off into space at incredible speed

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hovered As a helicopter hovered overhead and legal observers blew whistles, the center went into a lockdown that lasted three hours that day, and then did the same for four hours the next day when ICE circled again. —

Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2026 The labor market has slowed in recent months, while inflation has hovered above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%. —

Max Zahn, ABC News, 6 Feb. 2026 More recently, temperatures in the city—set at 7,000 feet above sea level—have hovered in the low 50s. —

Alex Schechter, Travel + Leisure, 6 Feb. 2026 The latest tally marks an eight-week high and comes after a recent stretch where filings, which are considered a proxy for layoff activity, had hovered around two-year lows. —

Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 5 Feb. 2026 Employer plans to hire were also at the lowest since 2009, the tail end of the Great Recession, when the jobless rate hovered near double digits, Challenger said. —

Andrea Riquier, USA Today, 5 Feb. 2026 Just hours ahead of Friday’s meeting, many questions hovered over the talks, including the scope of the agenda. —

Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026 The onus is squarely on him to break USC through the ceiling that has hovered over the program since Pete Carroll left 16 years ago. —

Antonio Morales, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2026 Federal agents in tactical gear, carrying firearms, moved in on the park, walking in a straight line, side by side, some on horseback, as news helicopters hovered above and nearby demonstrators jeered at them. —

Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hovered

Verb

In Tennyson’s youth, geologists amassed evidence in support of the proposition, first floated in the previous century, that the age of the earth was not measurable in the familiar and Biblically sanctioned sum of thousands of years but, rather, in untold billions.

— Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
He was drilled by Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon on his second interception as Witherspoon hit Maye’s arm and the ball floated out of his hands and right to Nwosu, who had nothing but open field in front of him.

— Greg Dudek, Hartford Courant, 9 Feb. 2026